Takes a while to get used to the characters and to find out that they're generally likeable, because most of them have issues. Lots of people to keep track of. Wasn't sure how much I was enjoying it at least a third of the way through, but it ended well. ( )

I hate to do this to an Angela Thirkell book, because I've truly enjoyed every other book of hers I've read so far, but I can't keep on.

I don't like Richard, who, as of page 63, is the main character. He's sulky and immature and even worse, he's starting to moon over a woman his mother's age who is happily married and has 9 children. I have no doubt whatsoever that subsequent events will mature him and his romantic interests will soon be redirected into more appropriate avenues, with much hilarity ensuing in the process. But I can't make myself go through the painful bits to get to the funny bits.

Angela Thirkell was a prolific author so there was bound to be one I didn't love, and I'll not let this one damp my enthusiasm.

Perfectly enjoyable trifle of an English countryside soap centering on amateur theatricals and inevitable love and marriage. ( )

Thirkell's regular light version of English village life, with an amateur play thrown in for good measure. ( )

I'm not sure how I got involved with this book. In the end, it was rather fun. It's basically a light, comedic piece, set in a British village around the 1930s.

So, we have the Palmers in the manor house. They have invited Mr. Palmer's sister, Rachael Dean, and her family to spend the summer in the Dower House. Near by are the Tebbens, a family of some intellectual pretense, but not of all that much financial substance.

So, Mrs. Palmer decides that the village is to put on a Greek Play, Hyppolytus, and she bullies various people into participating. That's the background for the action such as it is.

Richard Tebben is home from college, after having not particularly distinguished himself in his exams. He immediately falls in love with Rachael Dean. Rachael's older son, Laurence, shows up. It appears that he already knows Richad's sister, Margaret, and has taken rather a fancy to her. But he has a reputation as having been a bit of a rake, so the Tebbens aren't so sure of him. Laurence has a younger sister, Helen, who fancies cars and who spends quite some time befriending Richard, perhaps trying to entice him? Then, we have another of the (nine ?) Dean children, Betty, who fancies herself as an academic type and who is much interested in old family friend, Charles Fanshawe, a 50-ish bachelor intellectual.

Well, there's much more involved, more people and more weird connections/fancies. We have lots of strange happenings based on misunderstandings and so forth. Nothing deep here, just a small folly taking place in August in the British countryside. Quite comfy and humerous. ( )